<p>I've talked to a few students and professors/advisers at my undergraduate institution, but I'm hoping to get some honest, frank answers as to what caliber schools I should begin looking at.</p>
<p>I am currently a junior at Duke University. I'm an Art History major wanting to study later Italian Renaissance/Baroque, with a 3.925 major GPA. I've taken one graduate level course to this point, and will have taken 1-2 more by the time I graduate next spring, plus courses in a wide variety of areas in art. In terms of foreign languages I have coursework in German and Spanish. I also have a Chemistry minor, which attributes to my actual GPA being about a 3.2 (although on the rise without a ton of science classes this semester onward. phew). I have great relationships with my professors, an internship in a local museum, yada yada. I've gotten SOME direction from people, but am not exactly sure what CALIBER schools I should start looking into. </p>
<p>I'd like a more urban school, but suburban is fine. The size of the department isn't really an issue to me, but obviously I'm looking for a department with a decent student-faculty ratio, and faculty that are respected in the field. I'd LIKE to be on the west coast, preferably the Los Angeles area, but I'm open. </p>
<p>My question is does anyone have any honest suggestions as to schools I would stand a shot at, because no one I've talked to has many useful answers for me, and I can't find much specific advice pertaining to this. Also, since I haven't undertaken an undergraduate thesis or anything like that, I'm guessing it would be beneficial to have a Master's under my belt before applying for a PhD? </p>
<p>Any advice/direction would be appreciated! Thank you so much!</p>
<p>You will "stand a shot" at schools at which your interests FIT with the faculty. Whose work do you read, and enjoy? Whose methods of interpretation do you find congenial? Who is working on stuff you'd like to be working on? Track down those scholars, find out if they teach in grad programs, and APPLY THERE. I'll bet you end up applying to a mix of MA and PhD programs. There are benefits to both paths.</p>
<p>I'd also advise you to get some coursework in Italian before you apply anywhere. (And perhaps a "French for Reading" course.) If you intend to study Italian Renaissance and don't yet read Italian, the MA programs might begin to look more attractive to you.</p>
<p>I am not sure if my advice will be helpful, but if you are serious about graduate studies in Art History, the Ph.D. is the more common and preferable degree, especially if you want to work in academia, museums, art galleries, etc.. You will definitely need to sharpen your language skills (take courses in Italian).</p>
<p>I would consider these art history programs on the West Coast: UCLA, UC-Berkeley, UC-Santa Barbara, and Univ of Washington (Seattle).</p>
<p>I took the same academic route you have-- I have my undergrad in Art History, minor in Chemistry (I thought restoration would be an attractive field, but after an internship I decided it wasn't for me)... great relationship with my professors, etc.
You should apply to a mixture of MA and PhD programs, although the PhD programs are what you should be trying for. Most MA programs have little to no funding, and can be costly.
I think the University of California- San Diego may be a good program to look into. The head of the Art History department is a Renaissance specialist and someone who I have enjoyed working with in the past.
Start taking Italian and German. Also, start studying for the GRE!
Good luck!</p>
<p>^^ I agree with the above! If you're a junior, I would suggest trying to apply for ANY art history related internships this summer! Get on those applications because they'll give you first-hand exposure to serious art history stuff. You might even be able to do research. You'll be able to figure out what field you really enjoy and what kind of enjoy (believe me, there's more than the curator job in the museum and you might meet professors in lectures). Additionally your experience will give you something to talk about in your SOP.</p>
<p>I'm actually in History and am awaiting to hear from top PhD programs (eh... only them, no MAs LOL). I did 3 museums internships that gave me amazing insight on what "else" I could do with my History degree. I thought I would enjoy the museum aspect of it but after research internships under the Senior Historians, I realize that I'd much rather do research and perhaps teaching to the public. The internships also gave me great networking that ultimately decided which PhD programs to apply. Hopefully that pays off.</p>
<p>Like you, I need to hone my languages, especially for my field which requires a lot of languages. Fortunately, again, you're still a junior so you still have some time to get at least one language under your belt. Essentially, what the departments want from you is to be able to read academic texts in that language by the end of your first year so you want at least a good foundation before you go.</p>
<p>I know that you mentioned that your professors are not being helpful. First, look up their CVs or where they've gotten their degrees from. Get them talking about their graduate school and their experiences- they might actually suggest that you apply there as writing for alma mater counts for a lot. It could be also that your professors are cautious about you applying- are you jumping in too soon? Give them a reason why you don't want to take a year off and go striaght to PhD. Eventually, they'll give in. Don't worry- keep persisting! :) I did with one of my professors and she ended up writing a fantastic LOR at the last minute.</p>
<p>Great! Thank you so much for all the replies...very helpful. I've really enjoyed the work of a few faculty at UCLA, UCSD, and UCSB...is it useful to contact advisers you're really interested in, or a safer bet to contact their advisees with any questions...I've heard both.</p>
<p>Also, with the languages is it important to see coursework, or is self-study and then subsequently passing your language exams sufficient? With Chemistry I haven't had much time to pursue, well, much else! Should I atleast try to fit in one Italian course next year?</p>
<p>hlm- My adviser is Caroline Bruzelius, who specializes in Medieval...but I haven't spoken to her really because a) I'm new new advisee and b) I don't have much of an interest in Medieval so I've mainly been speaking to other professors.</p>
<p>ticklemepink- It's not that people aren't being helpful, but I guess I'm having a hard time getting the direction I'm looking for. My professors are always telling me "You're a competitive applicant" and "Very well-rounded and prepared for graduate study" but I'm having a hard time figuring out what that means in terms of where I should go next. It's not quite as easy as searching for, say, an undergraduate institution. </p>
<p>why am i not surprised that bruzelius hasn't been that helpful? haha. sorry...you should try meeting with hans van miegroet or kristine stiles. they're both very nice and very to the point!</p>
<p>Yeah- I've heard really great things about Hans but I have yet to meet him...it's definitely my goal to take a class with him next fall. Kristine is INCREDIBLY busy...I spent virtually all of last semester trying to track her down and ultimately failed. I mainly hang around with the visiting professor crowd...don't know too many of the full time professors since I just started taking classes a year and a half ago, and just joined the department a year ago.</p>
<p>Remember you're just a junior!!! You still have another year to go and lots of faculty members to meet! :) Breathe. I also hung out a lot with "visiting" faculty- they just happened to offer courses that really interested me. There's nothing wrong with getting recs fro visiting faculty- I plan to for my next round <em>if</em> I don't get in as I found out that he's very good friends with my top choice advisor. Often, I find that visiting faculty can be extremely useful in their backgrounds and perspectives. Also, you can still get LORs from professors that you're taking classes with in the fall.</p>
<p>I understand-really! Even I had that problem of "no direction." I go to a LAC where not too many students, especially in the humanities, go for their PhD. So my professors aren't <em>in</em> the game as to figuring out where I can stand in the applicant pool. What really helped me was finding and connecting with someone in a research unviersity. I met a guy who came to lecture on Zionism back in my sophomore year and I was really interested in his work for my paper that I was writing at that time and found out that he was a research fellow at one of the places where I had my internship. So I e-mailed him. He's actually at a Big 10 school and I'm at a LAC! Though he's in a different field (political science) but he does work in the Judaic Studies department so his advice and reassurances were very, very helpful. Whether my contact with him will ultimately gain me admission to that school or not, I have yet to find out.</p>
<p>One of my internship bosses also hooked me up with another faculty member at another big university with nice Judaic Studies department. She practically fed me tips and advice and evaluated my basic "application." She even wrote me "CHILL OUT!" e-mails every time I freaked out about something. I took every advice she gave me- including going to Israel to study my Hebrew- seriously and I now feel that without both of these faculty members in graduate schools I would not have been such a strong applicant. (Haha, my professors here don't realize that everything I did was not always out of my own motivation! I did things only because SOMEONE else told me to)</p>
<p>So basically, bug your professors, visiting faculty (especially post-docs) or anyone you know to hook you up with someone in graduate programs- even if it isn't art history, anything in the humanities will just do. They don't have to be your top choice- actually by not applying to their programs directly (though if the university is big, it's okay to apply to another department), you're making it a lot easier for them to help you because they won't feel pressured to compromise their relationship with you and their departments. So basically, every time your art history department runs a lecture, GO to that lecture if someone's coming from a big research university and network with that person even if you don't love their work. It's the scholarship in that field that counts as everyone has something to contribute. Basically, just introduce yourself and say that you're really interested in getting your PhD in Art History and if perhaps you can talk about graduate school with that person. Many times the person will be more than glad to help because well, you made their day by wanting to join them in the academia!</p>
<p>Prof X here is also a great "surrogate"- he gave me very valuable advice with general application and admissions process/decisions and I PM him every now and then with a question or concern, especially during this waiting period where I shouldn't be contacting anyone. And that's really, really hard.</p>
<p>i agree with everything that's been said above. i just went through the whole process myself (applying for AH phd), so if you have any questions about departments, professors, etc., feel free to post here or PM me!</p>